Stainless steels are durable and resistant to corrosion. They provide long-lasting material quality, strength and ductility. As such, stainless steels are the preferred choice of material in many areas.
In particular, special high-grade steels, the so-called tool steels, are used in order to reduce wear and to ensure high cutting rates when it comes to machining.
With AIM3D you can print your near-net shape components according to your individual requirements. You can then either machine the green part before it is sintered or the near-net shape part after it is sintered. This allows you to reduce both your tool costs and machine hours and provides you with a significant competitive advantage.
In cooperation with our suppliers, we are able to offer you a wide variety of materials to use with our ExAM machines. These include, for example, high-grade steels, quenched and tempered steels (Vergütungsstahl) and low alloy steels. We will of course also provide you with the respective information needed for debinding and sintering.
Do you have any further questions or are you interested in finding out more about the usable steels? Please contact us for further information!
Usable steels
High-grade steels
304
316L
17-4 PH
Quenched and tempered steels
4340
420 W
42CrMo4
Case-hardened steels
8620
16MnCr5
Low alloy steels
FN08
8740
FAQs regarding the use of steels
Can I use commercially available MIM feedstock?
Can I use commercially available MIM feedstock?
Yes, you can. It is not even relevant which binder is used. The ExAM printers support all common debinding methods (thermal, water-soluble, solvable and catalytic).
Does the entire production process of the metal component take place in the printer?
Does the entire production process of the metal component take place in the printer?
No. After the 3D printing process is completed, an additional debinding step is needed to remove the plastic and a sinter oven is needed to seal the component in an additional sintering step. AIM3D‘s open materials system allows you to keep using your already existing debinding and sintering systems.
Can I debind and sinter my 3D printed parts together with the parts produced by metal injection moulding?
Can I debind and sinter my 3D printed parts together with the parts produced by metal injection moulding?
According to customer feedback, this works very well. Hence, you can save time and money by not having to include separate sintering steps for the parts produced by additive manufacturing.
What are the mechanical properties?
What are the mechanical properties?
In general, the spec sheet values of the MIM material can be achieved, because the mechanical properties of the final component are mainly dependent on the sintering step. This is, in particular, also the case for the z-direction of the component.